In 2023, former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy wrote in an advisory entitled “The Epidemic of Our Loneliness and Isolation” that “social disconnection was far more common than I realized.”
And the problem still persists. According to 2025 Pew Research Center data, 24% of 18- to 29-year-olds report feeling lonely or isolated all or most of the time, and 20% of 30- to 49-year-olds report feeling the same way.
It turns out that it is even truer for adolescent boys. More than a quarter, or 26%, of boys ages 11 to 17 in the United States report feeling lonely, according to a recent report from the nonprofit group Common Sense Media.
“Children are becoming more and more lonely,” says Dr. German Velez, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Columbia University Medical Center. “And that’s something we’ve known for a while.”
Here’s why and what parents can do about it.
“The children don’t go out much anymore.”
Michael Robb, head of research at Common Sense Media, said there is “a confluence of factors” contributing to the rise in isolation and loneliness among adolescent boys.
For one thing, “we’re moving away from cultural activities,” Velez said. For example, according to the 2025 World Happiness Report, in 2023, “about 1 in 4 Americans will report eating an entire meal alone the previous day.” This is a 53% increase since 2003.
She said sharing a meal is the type of activity that not only allows young people to bond with friends and family, but also creates positive memories.
Rob added that boys tend to cite group activities such as sports as helping to alleviate loneliness. However, “kids don’t go out as much as they used to.”
A recent study published in the journal Wellbeing, Space and Society found that a third (34%) of children do not play outdoors during school hours, and 20% do not play outdoors on weekends.
In his 2024 book, An Anxious Generation, social psychologist Jonathan Haidt explains that the growing popularity of terms like “stranger danger,” increased access to alarming content in the news, and declining trust in communities as a whole have made parents increasingly afraid to let their children play outside independently.
Children are becoming increasingly lonely.
Dr. German Beres
Child and adolescent psychiatrist
What young people see online may also be a contributing factor to their loneliness.
According to Common Sense Media, between time spent on social media and time spent playing video games, 73% of adolescent boys regularly encounter masculinity-related content. This could include themes such as building muscle, making money, and fighting.
This content (usually in the form of podcasts, YouTube videos, and TikTok) helps reinforce “a version of masculinity that is proud to be very strong and stoic,” Rob says. “I have no one to share my feelings and emotions with.”
By doing so, children can be persuaded to keep to themselves rather than opening up to others and forming close bonds. That can “build up emotional walls and make children feel more isolated over time,” he says.
Here’s how parents can help
Parents can emphasize time together to help their children avoid or overcome loneliness.
“It means kids have better options than online,” Velez said. It means spending meaningful time with your loved ones. Especially protect the windows where boys are with family and friends.
When it comes to ensuring children don’t consume online content that causes, or at least exacerbates, loneliness, Rob cites a phrase used by one of his colleagues: “Be curious, not furious.”
Rob suggests starting a conversation with your kids and teens about algorithms and what they’re seeing on their social media feeds. And Velez agrees.
For example, asking how they feel when they see content related to masculinity can help children and teens start forming their own opinions about why the content they’re watching is harmful.
Hite also recommends enforcing strict rules around screen use at home, such as banning all types of screens in bedrooms and leaving plenty of windows open during the week for children to play independently with friends.
“We all know that’s when kids gather in the park and play baseball and soccer and things like that. Maybe they just stay in the school playground,” he says.
Playing together without the presence of a screen is “the most fun thing kids can do.”
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